Vlad Jr. closing in on elusive 200 hit club in Jays loss

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The penultimate chapter in Yariel Rodriguez’s first big-league season was penned Saturday, a personal memoir featuring some drama mixed in with moments of heartache, frustration and misery.

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Officially, the end will arrive when the Blue Jays close out their 2024 disappointment at home next weekend.

Unofficially, the Rodriguez story is far from complete knowing it has just begun.

At times, the Cuban-born right-hander has shown that he belongs in the starting rotation.

At the same time, he has shown that perhaps a bulk role would be more fitting.

What isn’t in dispute is the investment management has committed.

Managing his emotions, meanwhile, would serve Rodriguez well as he moves forward.

Incomplete would best describe Rodriguez, but the talent does surface.

In his 20th start of the season against the host Rays, twice he led off the game’s early innings by issuing a walk, the first coming around to score with two outs in the second.

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One inning later, Jonathan Aranda went deep for the second time in as many games, only this one was a two-run dinger and it also came with two outs.

Friday, he took Jose Berrios deep on a solo blast, which stood as the game’s lone run.

Through four innings Saturday, Y-Rod’s pitch count had risen to 81, his day officially reaching its expiration.

Lack of hitting with runners in scoring position would doom the Blue Jays, coupled with the curse of the Trop, as Tampa can now earn a series sweep following its 3-2 win.

Toronto’s scoreless drought at the Trop ended in the fifth inning on a soft ground ball off the bat of Spencer Horwitz with two outs that could not have travelled more than 10 feet up the third-base line.

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In baseball jargon, it’s affectionately known as a nubber.

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In the next inning, Joey Loperfido smacked an opposite-field double to give the Jays their first extra-base hit of the series.

HIT MAN

In his first at-bat, Vlad Jr. reached a career milestone when he fought off a nasty splitter down and away and sent it into right field for a two-out single.

For Vlad Jr., it was his 189th hit of the season.

At no point during his big-league career has Vlad Jr. recorded as many hits, but more will follow as the face of the Jays’ franchise is closing in on the elusive 200-hit season.

If Vlad Jr. does reach 200 hits, he’ll become the sixth player in Blue Jays history to accomplish the feat.

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Every at-bat is a must-see, every pitch capable of leaving the park or heading into either outfield gap.

He entered the day one RBI shy of 100 after reaching the 30-homer total earlier in the week against the host Texas Rangers.

Vlad Jr. started at third base against the Rays.

In his second at-bat, Vlad Jr. recorded his second hit of the game.

The third hit came in his third at-bat as his season total increased to 191.

He popped out in his fourth at-bat.

With two outs in the seventh inning, Vlad Jr. called off Dillon Tate, who had just entered the game.

Vlad Jr. over-ran the pop up that would be ruled a hit and charged to Tate, his first with the Blue Jays.

Vlad Jr. ended the game when he flew out.

CAPTAIN KIRK

The more Alejandro Kirk plays, the more one could see Kirk shouldering a much bigger load when next season rolls around.

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The Kirk-Danny Jansen platoon worked, but the man known as Jano was shipped to Boston as part of the Jays’ flurry of trades leading up to the July 30 deadline.

Kirk has been hitting, framing pitches and throwing out runners, though a couple of balls did elude him Saturday.

He has looked the part of an everyday catcher, but the biggest cloud hovering over Kirk is his physical stamina.

There’s no denying his presence in the absence of Jansen.

The Jays don’t have a reliable reserve in-waiting and some kind of move in the off-season to bolster the position will have to be made.

Unless something completely out of the blue happens this winter, expect Kirk to be the incumbent at catcher when he begins his sixth big-league season in 2025.

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He threw out his 25th base runner of the season when he gunned down Brandon Lowe attempting to swipe second base in the first inning on a well-placed throw to the first-base side of the bag.

In the second, he kept an elevated fastball from going to the backstop with runners at the corner.

Kirk brought a 13-game hit streak into the late afternoon game.

He waited until his fourth at-bat to extend the streak, but the wait was worth it after Kirk hit his first major-league triple to score Horwitz.

The milestone ball would make its way into the Jays’ dugout.

It must be noted Kirk’s sharply hit ball eluded right-fielder Josh Lowe, who came in on the play.

The ball went all the way to the wall, allowing the not-so-fleet-of-foot Kirk to end up at third.

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FOR THE RECORD

The Jays won’t be in the playoffs, a reality that’s been evident for quite some time, and have not won a post-season game since 2016.

Heading into the second game of their three-game series at the Trop, the Jays stood at 73-81 following Friday night’s 1-0 loss.

In other words, the Jays needed to win out to avoid a losing season, which the franchise has not experienced since 2019.

The Jays, it seems, never win a series when facing the Rays.

Following Saturday’s victory, the Rays are poised to earn a sweep, while the Jays will officially have a losing record in 2024.

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